


Saving Grace

by Cat_Moon



Series: Half Breed: Season Two [9]
Category: Moonlight (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-02
Updated: 2013-10-02
Packaged: 2017-12-28 05:59:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/988541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_Moon/pseuds/Cat_Moon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The situations with Shane and Sara and Sarah Whitley weighing heavily on his mind, Josef goes to San Diego for a vacation. Unfortunately, his trip is cut short when he gets some upsetting news from Mick.  Shane has gone missing...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Forces of Flight

**  Prologue:  Forces of Flight **

 

Kevin let his pen move across the paper of the notebook in front of him, one ear cataloging the engines of the planes outside on the airfield, the other on the droning inside. It all merged into one long buzz, as he doodled stock market projections in the margins. As a new hobby, it didn’t have much going for it yet that he could see, unless one was fond of bordem.

“Mr. Lundy,” the teacher, er, flight instructor Eric Hastings called his name, and he looked up into an inquiring pair of deep brown eyes. The teacher wasn’t half bad, though. “Are we keeping you up?” he asked pointedly.

There were murmurs of amusement from the other occupants of the class. And didn’t it feel bizarre for a 400 year old vampire to be in school–-they didn’t even have classes like this when he was a kid. Hell, they didn't even have _planes_ in those days. Kevin quirked a slight smile. “No, actually, you’re putting me to sleep.” Obviously the job of class clown would have fallen to him if there had been.

“I’m sorry I’m boring, I don’t mean to be. It is, after all, an important lesson. Could mean the difference between life and death up there. So tell me, how can I make it more interesting?”

Kevin was a bit nonplussed, not expecting the question. The first thing that came to mind-–take off all your clothes and teach the class in the nude--definitely wasn’t something he could repeat out loud. “Uh, I guess it’s not possible. On the ground, anyway. I’m assuming it gets more interesting up there.”

Eric looked at him for a moment. “Interesting. That reminds me, we forgot to do introductions. I always like to go around the room and have everyone tell us a little about themselves and why they wanted to learn to fly.”

“You want to start with me, I bet,” Kevin deduced.

“Well, since you offered, sure. Go right ahead.”

“Okay. I’m here because my friends told me I needed to get a hobby. Flying was suggested, so here I am.”

“You’re enthusiasm is overwhelming,” Eric told him. “So why did they want you to get a hobby?”

“They didn’t like my former one.”

“Which was?”

His grin widened. “Torturing them.”

“I’m thinking it’s a pity you didn’t take up stand up comedy instead. There’s a comedy club with an ametaur night right down the street,” was Eric’s comeback.

Sparring was something he enjoyed immensely, and he was pleasantly surprised to find the opportunity here. Maybe it wouldn’t be quite so boring after all. “Sorry, I’m not _ametaur_ at anything I do.”

“Prove it, Eric demanded. “Explain lift and thrust.”

“Well, if you’re talking about flying in a plane, they are two of the four forces of flight. As a plane climbs, its weight is equal to a portion of the lift force and a portion of the thrust force.” Kevin was surprised that part of his brain had actually been paying enough attention to know the answer. By the look on Eric’s face, he was too. “Now if you’re talking about flying _without_ a plane…”

“I…think we get the picture, thanks,” Eric muttered hastily amid twittering from the class.

Kevin decided he wouldn’t mind giving teacher a private demonstration. It was no wonder he’d been able to remember so easily: Lift, force, thrust, drag, weight… it was all about sex. As Eric went on to explain Newton’s theories to the class, Kevin thought: who knew Newton had such a dirty mind! Between that and the fact that the instructor wasn’t hard on the eyes, it might prove to be an enjoyable hobby after all.

 

XXX

 

Luckily for Kevin’s short attention span, the ground school portion of the cirucculm consisted of only one class. The following day he was already scheduled for his first flight. It was a perfect day for it, well, if you weren’t a vampire. Clear blue skies with barely a cloud to mar the perfection.

Speaking of, Eric Hastings had little to mar his perfection either. He looked more like a lifeguard than a pilot. Sandy hair came to just below his ears. A nice body obviously kept in shape. It made learning to fly more interesting, and Kevin was definitely in need of a distraction in his life right now.

In the cockpit of the plane, he found himself discomfited, and that wasn’t a feeling he was used to. It really was exciting, in its own pedestrian way. “This is a lot smaller than the planes I usually fly in,” he remarked as he looked around the small enclosed space of the Cessna.”   _Really small…_

“No, it’s certainly not like the Lear you own, is it Mr. Kostan?”

It wasn’t easy to surprise Josef; Eric had just stunned him. “How do you know who I am?”

“A couple of years ago, before I became an instructor here, I put in an application to be a pilot at Kostan Industries.”

“I don’t remember you.” And he definitely would have.

“I never even got to the interview point,” Eric admitted wryly. “But I always do a lot of research on the companies I’m trying to get a job with.”

“I’m impressed,” Josef admitted. This hobby was definitely becoming more interesting than he thought it would be.

“And _I’ll_  be impressed if you get through the pre-flight check without missing anything,” Eric told him with a challenging grin.

Once the check was complete, it was time to move on to the flying of the plane. As Eric began instructing Josef on takeoff, he interrupted.

“What about the pilot’s prayer?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah I’ve heard of it,” Eric responded questioningly.

“I’ve heard it’s a custom that before takeoff, pilots are supposed to hold hands and recite the pilot’s prayer,” he explained with a slight smile.

“That’s…interesting. Do you know the prayer?”

“I think I can recall it,” Josef answered, holding out his hand. He’d forgotten how much fun it was to flirt with strangers. He took Eric’s hand in his, feeling the pulse beat gently against the skin – but definitely speeding up now. He gave the man a sideways glance and began. “Bless this aircraft, make it fly straight and true through the perils of our journey. Amen.”

“Well, uh, I’m expecting this to be just a routine flight, no perils here,” Eric chucked. “So where did you learn that?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised at the things I know,” Josef answered suggestively as he taxied the plane down the runway.

Josef found Eric to be a good hands-on instructor…and wasn’t that a bit of a distracting thought. Hands on. The instructions were kept simple and easy for his new student while tailoring them to the individual student’s pace. This lesson consisted of learning how to taxi down the runway, takeoff, and fly at a proper level. After a brief time in the air, Josef was guided in descending and landing the plane.

When the plane was at a stop and the lesson complete, Eric turned to look at Josef. “Well, what do you think of your first flight?”

“It was…amazing,” he said, truly stunned at how exhilarating he’d found it to be up in the air, the plane’s controls under his own hands. He hadn’t expected that.

“I’m glad you liked it.” Eric looked away a moment. “You’re my last lesson for the day. I’m not usually, uh – do you want to grab a drink?” he finally blurted.

Josef smiled, finding the man’s hesitance endearing. “I happen to be very thirsty.”

 

XXX

 

The bar was dark and cool, a nice change from the outdoors. Josef took off his sunglasses as they entered and found a free table. While they waited for the waitress to bring their drinks, they engaged in small talk about flying, discussing the day’s lesson as well.

“I get up to L.A. every once in awhile,” Eric began after they’d gotten their drinks. He paused a moment, and Josef sensed another careful moment of dileberation from the other man. Finally he continued. “There’s a club up there, I was wondering if you’ve heard of it. Crimson.”

Josef was glad he wasn’t taking a drink or he might have mortified himself and did a spit take, so totally unprepared for that question was he. Oh, things were definitely getting interesting… “That’s a private club,” he said. “Members only.”

“I know.”

For Eric to know of Crimson meant only one thing: he knew about the existence of vampires. Crimson was an invitation only club catering to vamps and the humans who were into them. It was a decadent place where a bit of everything went on, but a large percentage of the humans who frequented the establishment were gay males. The day and age being what it was, there were many gay men who had a preference for being with vamps. There was less risk. No chance of getting any diseases, no condoms needed. If there were other types of risks…well, that just made it more of a turn on.

“And what made you ask me that question?” Josef queried mildly.

Eric almost blushed. Always an attractive trait to a vamp. “To be honest, I often let the name of the club slip when I meet someone…attractive, on the off chance. But my vampdar is pretty good, too,” he added.

“Are you 'positive'?” Sometimes men with HIV sought out vamps because they could have sex without any worries about infecting their partner.

“No I’m clean. Wanna stay that way.”

“Do you have anywhere else to be today?”

“No, my schedule is free.”

“Good.”

 

XXX

 

It had been awhile since Josef had been with a man, except for He Who’s Name Shall Not Be Thought. There was always so much female companionship available, the house full of freshies kept him quite happily busy. Once in awhile if he was in the mood for a male fuck he would spend an evening at Crimson.

The no strings aspect was such a refreshing treat after the complications of late, and the ones he was facing in the near future.

“What would you like the vampire to do?” Josef asked magnanioumsouly. A lot of men seemed to have very specific preferences as to what they were looking for in their vampire encounter.

“I want you to fuck me.”

“Of course you do.”

Josef reached into Eric’s open fly, wrapping a hand around the erection that was begging for attention. He backed Eric against the wall, letting his fangs just graze the inviting neck in preview of what was to come. He felt the body in his arms shiver and grinned. He was in charge, and he reveled in it. He gave Eric everything he wanted and more, took him and wrung the pleasure out of them until he was exhausted, sated, and grateful.

When he had Eric face down on the bed, buried deep inside the eager body, he appeased the other hunger and sunk his fangs into the neck waiting for him. The body under him shuddered as the man moaned at the new pleasure that was flooding his body.

When he had his fill, Josef withdrew carefully, mindful of the human’s fragility. He caressed one ass cheek fondly.

Eric slowly recovered, finally turning over and rummaging around in the bedside drawer. “That was good, it’s been so long.” He pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “You don’t mind, do you?” At Josef’s negative gesture, he lit one up. “It’s a quirk of mine, I guess. I only smoke after sex,” he explained.

“I have no problem with vices,” Josef said with a grin. “It’s usually much more fun than virtue.”

“You don’t know what freedom it is to be able to do this,” Eric told him, gesturing between them. “I hate using condoms, and the uncomfortable talk about testing, and safe sex...”

“Thank God for vampires,” Josef said with a cheeky grin.

“Amen.”

 

XXX

 

For three days Josef took flying lessons, (the sessions moved to evenings for his convenience) and kept Eric flying. It was one of those situations where you don’t know how much you really do need the distraction until you’re in the middle of it.

It would have been perfect, except that his no strings fling took a turn for the downside on the third night.

“So who’s the guy?” Eric asked as they lounged in bed after an enthusiastic round of fucking.

Josef regarded Eric through narrowed eyes, wondering what could have possibly given him away to this stranger. “What makes you think there’s a guy?”

“Your reaction to my question,” Eric admitted. “There’s always a guy, isn’t there? After awhile you get to recognize the look, especially when you wear it yourself.”

 _Why would you think I’d care_ , Josef thought, but clenched his teeth to keep from speaking it aloud even knowing if he kept silent it would invite further conversation.

Sure enough, Eric continued. “My last boyfriend… I really fell for him, hard. I wanted a commitment from him, and I pushed it. In the end, it broke us up. So then I decided, you know what? He’s right. Never again will I make that mistake. I’m only in it for the fun now.”

Commitment was overrated, fun was underrated… he wanted to say words like that, but stunned himself by what came out of his mouth instead. “It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got time if you want to tell it.”

“I wouldn’t even know where to start,” Josef admitted.

“The beginning?” Eric suggested.

‘In the beginning there was Shane.’ Josef laughed at his own melodrama. “It doesn’t matter. We’ve both got our own lives. And never the twain shall meet.”

“Never say never. Hey, it’s not like you don’t have time, right? Especially if he’s a vamp, too…”

Desperate for a distraction, Josef reached over and grabbed his jacket off the chair next to the bed, reaching in the pocket for his cell phone. He’d had it turned off most of the trip, to show his commitment to his vacation. _Can’t even make a commitment to a cell phone_ , he thought.

It rang as soon as he switched it on. It was Mick.

“I hope you don’t need anything, because I’m still in San Diego,” was his cheerful greeting.

“Shane’s missing.”

Josef sat up straight. “What?”

“No one’s seen or heard from him in almost 24 hours. He didn’t say anything to Sara, and there’s no trace of him. Greg called me because he couldn’t get a hold of you.”

“He wouldn’t just leave like that on his own, Mick. He wouldn’t leave Sara.” A sick worry was twining its way through his insides.

“I know.”

“I’m on my way. Where are you?”

"I’m at the airport. There aren’t a whole hell of a lot of daily flights to Alaska and I just missed one, but I was hoping I could use your plane, if it’s here.”

There was a minute pause, and then Josef did something that spoke his faith and trust in Mick and his PI skills more than a shout from the rooftops. “It’s there. The pilot will be there in minutes or he’ll be fired. I’ll get a commercial flight up as soon as I can.”

Before he’d even hung up, Josef was off the bed and dressing.

“Is everything okay?”

“Something’s come up, I have to go,” he said shortly, his only goal now getting out of there and on his way.

“Is there anything I can do?” Eric asked.

“No,” he said distractedly as he threw on his jacket. “I’ll see you around, it’s been fun.” With that, he walked out of the house.

Once his feet hit the sidewalk, his reaction intensified. What if he’d changed the future all right, but for the worse? There was no question in his mind that something was wrong. Staying calm was taking enormous effort, which wasn’t like him. Thoughts churning, he reached his car and jumped into the front seat, starting to call airlines to get a flight to Alaska.

 

XXX

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Josef growled into his cell phone mencingly. “A flight from California to Fairbanks with a stop in Salt Lake City?! I’ve heard of milk runs, but that’s ridiculous!” The news just kept getting worse. “What do you mean it’s gonna take me eleven hours to get to Alaska? Are you out of your friggin’ mind?!” he yelled, apoplectic. “Have you people looked at a map?!” He tried to surpress the desire to go down there and tear the idiot apart with his bare hands. “Forget it, I’ll rent a private plane.”

Which would still take time to arrange.

“Dammit!” he yelled in frustration, punching the end call button violently.

“I’ll take you,” came a quiet voice.

Josef turned to see Eric there, standing by the door. He’d heard the other man approach on some sublminal level of course, but had been too preoccupied to make note of it. Instead of answering he found himself just staring.

“You need to go to Fairbanks, Alaska, right? You won’t get a direct flight, there aren’t any because there wouldn’t be enough passengers to make it profitable.”

“You can take me?” he finally said, wincing inside at the hopeful and desperate tone to his voice.

“Let’s go,” Eric answered simply, rising and heading for the passenger side of the car.

Funny, Josef thought as they headed for the airstrip. Seemed he couldn’t even have a simple fling these days without it getting complicated.

 

 **end prologue**  
 


	2. Missing

The room was bathed in darkness, save for the half dozen candles placed on various surfaces for effect. The sounds of his nighttime filtered in through the partially opened window. Afterglow, candle glow; there was a warmth inside of him that belied his perpetual vampire coolness. Wrapped in the arms of the woman he loved, the smell of sex and them perfuming the air, he was content as he’d never been in his entire life before – alive or undead.

No voices intruded on this perfection, only the faint echo of their earlier cries of passion. Their bodies and hearts silently communicated with each other in the stillness of the early evening. In the solitude of his mind, Mick prayed that he never took this for granted, no matter how many centuries they had together. Beth called him her guardian angel, but she truly was the savior of Mick St. John. Life didn’t get any better than this.

He felt Beth’s mouth curve into a smile as he placed a kiss there, his hands moving lazily over her skin as other parts of his body contemplated waking up again. The second time could be even better than the first, languid, relaxed, urgency spent but desire never dulling. She would welcome him inside as if he’d never left, and the sweet sharp spike of pleasure would cause her to cry out again, unless the sound was swallowed by his kiss…

The jangle of the telephone cut harshly into the sanctity of the moment, intruding and insistent.

Giving Beth a wry grin, Mick reached over to snag the receiver, thinking that he really needed to remove the telephone from the bedroom entirely. The minute he heard Greg Bannister’s voice though, he was instantly alert, knowing it couldn’t be good news.

“Sorry to bother you Mick,” Greg began, “but I couldn’t get a hold of Shane’s emergency contact, Josef."

“What’s wrong?” Mick asked.

Two words, and all traces of romantic notions vanished. “Shane’s missing.”

Mick sat up, running a hand through his hair. He could feel Beth’s inquiring look as he switched into his all-business persona. “Yeah, Josef’s vacationing in San Diego; I’ll try to get a hold of him. In the meantime, give me the details.”

“Don’t have many. He’s vanished without a trace, just didn’t show up anywhere after his shift. Sara hasn’t heard from him, either, and you know that’s cause for alarm. I have an APB out for him, but no clues, nothing to go on.”

Mick’s detective mind began processing the information. Shane was even less likely to worry Sara by taking off without word than he himself would with Beth, unless she wasn’t telling the truth about that. Josef had left a strict “do not disturb” message on his voice mail, so it wasn’t surprising he was incommunicado, although there might be something there… There was also the possibility that Shane’s disappearance was vampire-related. Any way you looked at it, it called for the services of a vamp detective.

“I’m going to get a flight up there as soon as I can,” he told Greg.

“I’d welcome the help,” Greg said.

Greg was a good man, and not too proud to accept help when it was offered. Mick respected him. “I’ll call you back when I have my flight info.”

“What’s going on?” Beth asked as soon as he’d hung up.

“That was Greg, Shane is missing. I’m going to head up there and see if I can help find him.” Mick got out of bed and began gathering his clothing, intent on a quick wash up and then being on his way.

“I’ll go with you,” she said expectedly, starting to get out of bed.

“What about your story?”

“Damn,” Beth muttered, subsiding back onto the mattress. She was in the middle of a hot story (thankfully for Mick, nothing dangerous this time). “I can’t go until I finish this up. But I’ll see what I can do to help from here. And I’m going to call Sara, I know how she must be feeling and I can probably reassure her some.”

Mick stopped at her side of the bed, giving her a lopsided grin, enjoying, as always, her go-get ‘em attitude. Beth was like a bulldog. A cute, blond, pixie nosed bulldog…

“You know I hate being left out,” she told him peevishly.

“And sexy, and stubborn, and a force of nature…” Mick continued his thoughts out loud.

“And you be careful!” she demanded, as he reached out to frame her face in his hands.

“You too, Mrs. St. John,” he told her, giving her a kiss to curl her toes, before heading reluctantly into the bathroom to get ready.

 

XXX

 

_In a normal missing person’s case, the first forty eight hours are critical. Investigators know that if they don’t find the person by then, the odds of a good outcome are not in their favor. With every second that goes by on the clock your chances are ticking away. Think of being a vampire as having the added complication of a unique disease requiring special medication. After the first twenty four hours the urge to feed starts getting pretty strong. Give it seventy two and you’re into dangerous territory for everyone concerned – and that includes the whole vampire community if you lose control and do something in front of someone you shouldn’t. Shane didn’t have my well honed guilt complex. I wasn’t sure whether I should be comforted or worried by that fact. I could only hope that wherever he was, if he was alive, he had access to blood, somehow._

 

Mick was at the airport when he finally managed to get Josef on the cell. Rather than engage in small talk, he got right to the point. “Shane’s missing.”

“What?” came the suddenly serious voice on the other end.

“No one’s seen or heard from him in almost twenty four hours. He didn’t say anything to Sara, and there’s no trace of him. Greg called me because he couldn’t get a hold of you.”

“He wouldn’t just leave like that on his own, Mick. He wouldn’t leave Sara.” Josef sounded worried, and a bit plaintive. And when Josef Konstantin was worried, you’d best be, too.

“I know,” Mick said softly.

“I’m on my way. Where are you?”

“I’m at the airport. There isn’t a whole hell of a lot of daily flights to Alaska and I just missed one, but I was hoping I could use your plane, if it’s available.”

There was a minute pause, and then Josef said something that spoke to his faith and trust in Mick and his PI skills more than a shout from the rooftops. “It’s there. The pilot will be there in minutes or he’ll be fired. I’ll get a commercial flight up as soon as I can.”

 

XXX

 

In atmosphere at the sheriff’s office was somber when Mick arrived several hours later. Greg was behind his desk, and Sara sat in a chair in the corner, wearing an oversized sweatshirt that said “Property of the Sheriff’s Department” and headphones on her ears. When she saw him she jumped up and ran to him, her arms going around his waist. It was a testament to how upset she was. That and the eyes that had looked at him when he walked in. The light that was usually there was dulled. He didn’t know whether it was Shane’s disappearance or a combination of that and her mother’s recent death, but he knew he never wanted to cause Beth’s eyes to look like that.

Mick hugged her tightly. “We’ll find him, I promise,” he found himself saying, praying it was true.

Sara stepped back. “I know he’ll be okay. I just…” she shrugged.

Mick met Greg’s eyes over her head, communicating silently.

Greg perceptively picked up on the message. “I’m going to call your Aunt Pat to come and take you home,” he told Sara. “There’s nothing you can do here, and Mick and I need to get to work.” Pat Adams was Ethan’s sister. She’d come to town for Alisha’s funeral, and decided to stay for awhile to lend her presence and support to the grieving family.

Sara turned toward Greg, some of the fire returning to her gaze. “First of all I’m fully capable of taking my own self home, so you don’t need to patronize me. Second, since I know him better than either of you, there might be something I can do.”

Mick formulated his response for a moment, before deciding. “Damn girl,” he copied Shane’s common expression, and then added a Josef finish. “One Nora is enough. Have pity on us. What do you think Shane is going to do to us if he comes home to find out we weren’t taking good care of you?”

As Sara finally gave in and sullenly left the building, Mick never realized how prophetic those words might turn out to be.

“Okay,” Greg began when the girl was gone, all business despite his obvious concern about his superior and friend. “I’m not any closer to solving this than I was last time we spoke on the phone. I pulled some old files, there’s nothing in them that arouses any suspicions. His last contact was when he called in to say he was going off duty.”

“I hear Shane is, um, especially skilled in fighting and self defense,” Mick began, carefully skirting the issue of his superhuman abilities. “It wouldn’t be easy to get the drop on him.” Very difficult indeed, unless one knew exactly how to do it. Which strongly narrowed down the possibilities to him either accidentally being killed or incapacitated in some freak happening, or to someone who knew what he was having a hand in his disappearance. None of them were comforting scenarios, and the last was, using Occam’s razor, the most likely.

“I don’t even know where to go from here,” Greg admitted, rubbing fingers over his scalp in frustration. “I’ve been all over this county several times already. I’ve questioned almost everyone in town, and interviewed the only suspect I even remotely had. There’s a missing person’s report and an APB. I don’t know what else to do.”

“You said you interviewed the only suspect. Who was that?” Mick asked with interest.

“Ethan Adams,” Greg admitted to Mick’s wide eyed reaction of surprise.

“What’s the story there?”

“I found out about it when I, uh, sort of tricked Sara into telling me what happened…”

 

. . .

 

_Greg had watched Sara pace the office, her hands fidgeting nervously with her IPOD. Not surprisingly she’d been the first one to notice Shane missing. He’d had to admit that it was totally out of character and highly unlikely for Shane Alexander to just leave town without so much as a goodbye. Truthfully it was impossible to imagine him leaving without Sara. Not under his own steam. And had been what they were both afraid of._

_“Is there anyone you can think of that he’s had trouble with lately?” Greg had probed. “Anyone at all who might have a beef with him?”_

_Sara had averted her eyes then, even as she’d shaken her head no. He’d known she was holding something back._

_“Sara,” he’d continued in what he’d hoped was a reasonable voice. “You need to help me here. On an investigation the police work by eliminating suspects, that way we can narrow it down and focus on the likely.”_

_“Well, yeah, but look – I know he wouldn’t do anything to Shane.”_

_“So tell me who it is, that way I can cross him off the list right away.” He’d felt a momentary stab of guilt at lying to her, but he wanted to know who his suspect was. He had been stunned by her response, at first._

_“My father._

_“What happened?” Not that he hadn’t had a clue what was probably coming._

_“He knows about us, he found out when he walked in on us kissing, and he wasn’t too happy at first. He sort of, uh, threatened to kill Shane – but he’s over that now, he’s really coming around.” She’d looked at him with conviction, then. “He’d never touch Shane. Because if he did, he knows he’d never see me again.”_

_“Thank you.”_

_Be that as it may, Greg had still needed to talk to Ethan. He was the only suspect. So, an hour later he had found himself escorting Ethan into the station._

_“We can talk in here.” He’d led the way into the conference room, shutting the door. It was a conversation he wasn’t looking forward to having, a delicate situation involving people he knew and was friends with. “Would you like some coffee?”_

_“No thanks, I’d rather know why you called me down here.”_

_“You know Shane is missing.”_

_“Yeah, I uh, I know. Sara’s…” Ethan's voice had trailed off. “I already told you everything I know, when the last time I saw him was, all that stuff.”_

_It had had to be done this way, he needed to see Ethan’s reaction. “I heard you threatened to kill him.”_

_Ethan had looked at Greg incredulously. “Are you telling me I’m a suspect in his disappearance?!”_

_Greg had looked away momentarily._

_“Yeah, I threatened to blow his brains out,” Ethan had admitted then. “How would you feel, if you were in my place?”_

_Greg shied away from picturing Shane with his daughter Mara. It was an uncomfortable thought, even though she was a few years older than Sara. “Probably the way you are now. But I’d like to think I wouldn’t resort to violence.”_

_“Don’t presume to know how I feel now. Shane’s missing, and I look into Sara’s eyes, and…” he’d paused, visibly choked up. “I remember how I felt when I lost Alisha. I wouldn’t do that to my daughter.”_

_“I believe you. And I’m sorry for asking you these questions, but the sheriff is missing and I intend to find out what happened to him.”_

_“He has to be all right,” Ethan had said then, and Greg knew there were a great many people who shared that prayer…_

 

. . .

 

“You believed him, then?” Mick asked when Greg finished filling him in on the events of the previous day.

“Yeah, I do. He wasn’t involved in Shane’s disappearance.”

Mick trusted Greg’s judgment, especially since he knew these people well. Still, he’d check the man out himself later if other avenues didn’t pan out. “What about his truck, you still haven’t found it?”

“Nope. How does a man just drop off the face of the earth?” Greg asked rhetorically.

“Do you know his approximate location at the time of his last call in?”

“Yeah, he said he was over on County Road 108, heading back into town. Presumably on his way home.”

“Take me there.” Maybe, if he was able to find the general location, his vamp senses would be able to tell him something about the circumstances. Something that would give them a clue to go on.

How could a vampire just drop off the face of the earth?

 

**end of Part Two: Missing**

 


	3. Shane

 

I’ve heard about humans having occasional dreams where they know they’re asleep but can’t wake up. They’ll try to force themselves to move, to yell, anything to wake up, but it’s as if they are frozen. Some of them are living the nightmare, like the late Christopher Reeve, who was paralyzed from the neck down due to an accident. Then there are the horror accounts of anesthesia gone wrong, operations done on patients that are awake and aware of every cut of the scalpel, unable to do anything but lay there and suffer the unimaginable pain.

Even for a vampire, being paralyzed is not a pleasant experience. There’s the feeling of helplessness, of vulnerability. The panic when you realize that nothing will move, your body won’t obey your brain’s commands. It’s unsettling in the extreme. And it’s what happens when we’re staked through the heart.

I’d like to add one more thing, and that would be my personal humiliation at having someone – especially someone human – get the drop on me. I had quite a few hours to contemplate the situation, as I lay there in the dark in the back of the van. Normally I don’t dwell on the past. Sometimes however, it’s useful to go over your past mistakes and come up with strategy for the future.

It was a normal morning; I was on my way home from work. ‘Daytime’, but the cover of darkness still hung heavy over the Alaskan sky. When I saw the van parked haphazardly off to the side of the road, hood open, I pulled the Sheriff Dept. F-150 up behind it and got out to offer assistance. Have I been too distracted lately, or was there just no reason for anyone, not even me, to suspect anything? The guy who came out from around the front seemed relieved to see me. He told me about the engine trouble they were having and asked me to take a look; he thought it might be a dead battery and maybe I could give them a jump start. I questioned his use of the plural at about the same time I heard the back of the van open. Maybe there was a second of suspicion on my part, but it was already too late. He was explaining that he and his friend were on their way to make a delivery and gesturing behind me as he introduced his ‘friend’. I turned around and wham – that’s when his accomplice shoved the stake into my chest.

“You’re the delivery,” he told me as I lay on the road in shock.

The percentage of the human population that knows of the existence of vampires isn’t extraordinarily huge; we try to keep it that way. The ones that know dangerous secrets, like how much of the popular folklore is just a load of crap and the _real_ ways to kill or incapacitate us, is even smaller. Small enough to get our instant attention. These guys wanted to take me alive, and they knew how to do it. They also seemed to know that it was important not to show any nervousness or fear – I would have picked up on it. Their ability to remain calm and cool when capturing a vampire that they were nowhere near a match for was revoltingly admirable. If I had been them, I’d have been scared shitless – and with good reason. I consoled myself with the knowledge that they would be, before it was over.

Lest you think they’re friggin’ geniuses, they made mistakes, too. The back of the van they chose was closed off to the front so the idiots couldn’t see me. The luckiest one for me… I’ve never ran across a human who realized it (and many vamps don’t either, it’s the kind thing you usually learn by experience), but you don’t have to be a doctor to know that everyone’s internal organs are not in the exact same place. They can vary from the pretty pictures in the medical books quite a bit. Enough, in this case, so that he didn’t get my heart dead center. He also miscalculated how deep to go.

Here’s another overlooked concept: Evolution of species. Or adaptation to environment… and my personal favorite – or not – changes in DNA. Centuries ago the average lifespan of a human was vastly shorter than it is today. I’d think of more examples for you, but I’ve got a stake in my chest and I’m not feeling particularly scholarly. Humans change, evolve. Frankly though, I’m just as glad not too many people have realized that vampires are not all created equal. It’s like having a secret weapon; they can never be too sure of you or sure what’ll work and what won’t. Keep ‘em guessing and keep smiling.

As the hours and miles went by, I passed the time getting as much information as I could from listening in on the conversations in the front of the cab and working on making my recalcitrant arms and hands obey my brain so that I could pull the stake out of my body and get free.

I also worked very hard not to think about Sara. As the day drew to a close I knew she’d be frantic wondering what had happened to me. The girl’s been through so much lately, she didn’t need this, now. If I focused on her enough I’d feel her pain and the idea of her hurting, well, it makes me a little crazy.

The conversation up front was fascinating but not totally illuminating. I did hear a name I haven’t heard in decades. Fitzgerald. Apparently they were taking me somewhere for the purpose of getting information out of me, about Charles Fitzgerald. How they’d connected me to that name I had no idea, but I was definitely ruing my decision in the 40’s to take the same last name as Jay-Jay and do the brother thing. They wanted me alive, that much was obvious. I don’t know how much info they had about the care and feeding of vampires, but I was just as glad that wasn’t going to be an issue. I wasn’t totally paralyzed and I was going to get the stake out and turn the tables. In my mind, there was no alternative.

Patience. Focus. Determination. As the night became the morning again I ignored everything else but those things needed for my immediate situation. My captors only stopped for bathroom/gas/snack breaks, and took turns napping. They were obviously in a hurry to get wherever they were going. Since I had no idea how far that was, I tried to speed up my own laborious movements. Hand around the stake, pull it inch by agonizing inch toward the surface.

Another day, another how many miles? Or was it two days now? I was starting to lose track of time, and that wasn’t good – but the realization did give me the impetus to renew my efforts at removing the stake. Desperation moves mountains.

Then, finally I reached that glorious moment when the sucking sound signaled an end to my captivity. Hurt like a mother when I wrenched it free, but by the time I got my equilibrium back, the wound had healed and I was almost good as new. Well, maybe not exactly new, but nothing a good pint of O negative wouldn’t cure. I’d heard them talking about having to check on me, so when the van started slowing down I knew I didn’t have much time to come up with a plan.

It’s a funny thing about pain. When you heal as fast as we do, it becomes more bearable. Like humans, all vamps have their own pain tolerance threshold, but as a rule we aren’t as afraid of it as humans. I’ve often wondered why that is, and no, in all these centuries I’ve never figured it out to my satisfaction. Maybe there’s some primal instinct at work; survival being paramount and the presence of pain a signal to the brain that it’s in danger. Since we don’t have as much to fear from pain, we’re better able to tolerate it. That’s not to say we enjoy it (and no, this is not the time or place for a discussion of masochistic vamps). So it was with definite reluctance that I plunged the stake back into my body again – this time completely missing my heart so I wouldn’t be paralyzed, but close enough so that they wouldn’t notice any difference and would think I was still in the same position as before.

It wasn’t long before the back door was opened, and they were leaning in, both peering at me almost comically stupidly. You know, like a couple of kids who see a wild animal lying unmoving and think it’s a good idea to have themselves a real close look. So, you know, I’ve seen those old slapstick movies too, so I thought it was apropos to grab their heads in each of my hands and bring them together forcefully. They crumpled to the floor of the van, unconscious. I didn’t see any little cartoon stars around their heads though. Pity.

 

**end of Part 3: Shane**


	4. Searching

 

“Tell me again, why you think finding the exact spot Shane was last heard from will help us find him?” Greg asked as Mick returned after making a quick circuit of the area.

“Well, I won’t know till I find it, will I?” he improvised. He’d been hoping that he might be able to pick up something with his vamp senses, but so far all he’d gotten was frustrated. He couldn’t even be sure where it had happened – whatever _it_   was.

“Uh, yeah, okay, that makes sense, I guess.”

“I wonder if he has enemies,” Mick mused, thinking maybe a call to Josef with the question was in order.

“You saw the S.D. files.”

“I mean from before he moved here,” Mick said carefully. He didn’t know Shane’s exact age, but in that many centuries a vamp could collect quite a few, if not careful.

At that moment, the radio in Greg’s cruiser squawked to life. He went over to answer, and after a brief conversation with the dispatcher, came trotting back to Mick. “They found Shane’s truck!” he announced. “Some kids came across it while playing, in an old abandoned barn.”

“Let’s go,” Mick said, heading for the car. It was their first – and only lead.

 

XXX

 

Sara let herself into the house, shivering a little at its emptiness. Her family had wanted her to stay with them, but she’d finally had to get out. Her father was getting on her nerves, and even Aunt Pat was being unusually annoying. If she’d stayed another minute she’d have belted someone. Better to be here, where she felt closer to Shane.

Heading for the back, she keyed in the code for entry into the room he called his sanctuary. The front bedroom was for show, and for “entertaining.” This was Shane’s space. He didn’t sleep in a freezer like the vampires in L.A., his whole room was set up with a powerful cooling unit, including a timer and remote control. He slept in the bed.

Sara stood there in the center of the room for a moment, not quite knowing what to do. Then she began a slow circuit of the room, soaking up the atmosphere. She absently re-arranged the flowers in the flower vase/bong she’d gotten him one Christmas that was on display on one of the shelves lining the wall. At some point he’d gotten new flowers, these were more lifelike and attractive than the ugly ones she’d gotten for a joke. It was pure Shane. There was a Kiss poster on the wall, but it wasn’t the kind that could be bought, it was one of those advertising announcements that used to be plastered up on every available lamp post and window in New York City to advertise coming shows at famous clubs like the Ritz. A framed Jerry Lee Lewis record album, signed by the legend himself in black magic marker, also held a place of prominence. There was a bottle of Jack Daniels and a glass on the nightstand; she poured herself some and sipped at it as she continued around the room, studying all the pieces of Shane’s life that highlighted his favorite decades. There were a few other things scattered here and there, like the African mask on the wall and a Thor's hammer on a chain that hung from the dresser mirror, that represented other times and places in his long life, but most of it was about the music.

Sara had the sudden urge to bring something of hers here, besides her clothes and other necessities, something to add to the décor. There hadn’t been time for anything like that yet, it seemed something was always going on these days. She spent a lot of time there now, but usually they were pretty…occupied with other things besides interior decorating.

She ran a hand lovingly over his guitar, leaning against the wall in the corner. Considered putting it in its case, but wanted it where she could see it. Ever since Shane went missing she’d had an endless loop of his music playing in her ear, but now she put her IPOD aside and turned instead to the stereo. Kneeling on the bean bag chair in front of it, she flipped through the CD wallet looking for something to play. The chair was a glaring yellow, full of graffiti – some of it X-rated -- put there by the members of one of Shane’s old bands. One disc caught her attention because it had nothing written on it to give away its contents. Curiosity piqued, she took it out and slipped it into the CD player. It would be something he didn’t want to be heard because he hadn’t labeled it. On the other hand, it wasn’t totally secret because it was there in plain sight with the other CD’s. If she had found it hidden in an underwear drawer or something, she wouldn’t have touched it. This placement told her it was private – but fair game.

As the music started, Sara grabbed his shirt from where it lay on the bed and held it close. It was the one she’d taken off him, just the other day.

 

_She’s got a smile that sparkles and eyes that dance, the smell of her skin suggests romance…when I see you there with your shoulders bare, turn me on sister Sara. She’s my soul mate woman I’ve always felt…_

 

The first song got a thrilled smile out of her. She had no clue why the singer called his girl “sister” Sara, but it was very cute and apropos considering their past and how her parents had insisted in deluding themselves by thinking Shane was a ‘big brother’ figure for her.

 

_I looked for love wherever I could find it, was lost without a trace. I didn’t see that love had already found me, till I saw your face. I feel so good whenever you’re around me, oh darling, oh Sara, I don’t know where I’d be without you…_

 

Sara curled into the chair and settled down to listen to the rest. With the second song, “Oh Sara,” it was obvious this was his personal playlist, just like she had hers, songs that reminded her of him or their relationship. He’d had a copy of hers for a long time now, but the jerk had never shared his with her!

 

_Another restless night without you, secret feelings locked away. I close my eyes and think about you, memorize each word you say… emotions tear me apart; thoughts never spoken are here in my heart. Sara, oh I need you. Sara you take my breath away…_

 

Her smile faded with next songs, because she found herself overcome with emotion at the words to the songs he’d picked. The lyrics were so perfect Shane could have written them himself. How could a collection of songs by various artists feel so personal?

 

_Well I don’t know why every time I touch you, you make my heart react. And when you go I never get enough of you, I have to face the fact that I never felt like this before, and I want you baby more and more. I’ve got you running through my veins and it’s driving me insane…._

 

The singer poured his heart and soul out, his words of love and need, and it was obvious every one of these songs was chosen specifically. It was as if she was seeing inside of Shane’s soul, it was the songs of their life. It was intimate and raw and she couldn’t stop the tears that slid down her cheeks as she listened to the songs tell her how Shane felt. How he’d felt, those years of waiting.

 

_In the beat of your heart and the sound of your name, did you ever want someone to hold you does it still feel the same? I’m under your spell and you better not tell on me, in the heat of the night I don’t care if it’s right…_

 

It was all right there. The last three years of their relationship, everything they couldn’t admit. And more. Confirmation of what she’d known deep inside but had to remain unspoken. More than he’d yet gotten around to saying to her. Putting to rest forever any doubts she might have had that it was more than just her imagination.

 

_There’s a way you look that’s so hard to forget you, there’s a look in your eyes, you know I wanted you from the moment we met, and if you feel it too you ought to realize… that it’s the right time, oh it’s the wrong place to fall in love with me… the way you turn me on breaking every rule…_

 

“Ah ha!” Sara crowed aloud to the empty room, having also gotten an answer to a question he had refused to answer.

 

_Sara, why is this so hard to say when you already know?_

 

Good question. Maybe old habits die hard.

 

_I need you, baby, I need you so. Whenever you want me babe, I’ll be there. Whenever you need me babe, I’ll be there. No matter where you are, I’ll be right by your side. I’d climb up the highest mountain for you, there’s not a thing that I wouldn’t do. I would go anywhere, if you need me girl, baby this I swear, oh I’ll be there…_

 

Literally shaken from what she’d heard, Sara rose stiffly when the CD was finally over and crawled into the bed. He would be back. She knew he would, he’d promised he’d always be there and she knew Shane wouldn’t break that promise. Still, she was so cold inside, felt like she’d never be warm. She recognized the feeling, it was the same one she’d had in L.A. when for that brief period of time her and Shane had been ‘on the outs,’ when she’d doubted her knowledge of him. This was much worse.

Sara slipped her earphones back on so she could continue to listen to his voice. It reassured her that everything would be fine. Surrounding herself with his voice and letting the image of him infuse her, she never heard the a/c unit kicking on to further drop the temperature. To drop it to a vampire’s comfort level. Eventually she started feeling warmer again and fell into an exhausted sleep…

 

XXX

 

Greg did a search of the truck, finding no sign of struggle and nothing out of the ordinary.

“Dammit!” Mick exclaimed, earning a raised eyebrow from Greg. “We still have nothing!” He hadn’t picked up much from the truck either, just the vague impression of the man who parked it there, and he’d never seen him before. Shane had to have been away from his truck when he was grabbed. And if Mick suddenly wanted to go and look through mug shots, how would he explain that?

“We’ve got more than we had,” Greg encouraged. “Maybe there are some prints on the truck.”

“If they were pros, they wouldn’t leave any.”

“Let’s try to stay positive, shall we?”

“Greg—“Sadie’s voice came over the police radio. “Are you there?” They didn’t hold too much for formality in Resurrection.

“Yeah, what’s up?” he asked as he reached through his open cruiser window and grabbed the mike.

“We got a call from Ethan. Sara’s missing.”

 

XXX

 

“Maybe she just needed to get away from everyone for awhile,” Mick suggested as they were driving back into town. “Do you know where she might go?”

“Shane’s,” Greg stated the obvious, already heading in that direction. “She had some words with the family but she promised she’d be available, and I believe it because she wouldn’t want to miss what might be an important call. She’s not answering her cell. We’ll try the house first.”

 

XXX

 

Mick heard the heartbeat and breathing at the back of the house as soon as they entered. Too slow. Something was wrong. He had no idea what he’d find, but quick thinking and fifty some decades of hiding secrets had him suggesting that Greg check out back yard while he checked inside, just in case. The minute Greg was gone, he was headed in the direction of the sound, and upon seeing the coded access panel on the wall, instinct had his cell phone in his hand before he even reached the door.

“Yeah,” Josef’s voice answered immediately, devoid of its usual signature greetings.

“Tell me you know the code to the room at Shane’s,” he said urgently.

“1013,” he answered. “Why, what’s happen--”

Flipping closed the phone and entering the code, Mick rushed in when door opened. The cold hit him like a slap to the face. A nice feeling for him… not so good for the human girl on the bed. Without pause he grabbed her up in his arms and ran out of the house calling for Greg as he did so.

“Hypothermia, we’ve got to get her to the hospital,” Mick explained tersely as the Deputy met him out front.

Greg jumped into the driver’s seat of the cruiser while Mick got in back with Sara. As he pulled out with lights and sirens going, Mick assessed Sara’s condition. Pale lips, blue. Pulse slow. Temp… she was maybe 87? That was in the moderate range.

Mick shrugged out of his coat and draped that over her, wishing he had some blankets as well. His cell phone rang, but he ignored it for more pressing concerns, not wanting to take his eyes or attention off of Sara for a moment. He monitored her breathing and heartbeat with his acute senses for any sign of dangerous change.

“C’mon Sara, hang on. You gotta be okay.” She mumbled a reply, but even he couldn’t make it out. Confusion and slurred speech were common symptoms.

The specter of an impossible decision loomed before the vampire. What if Sara’s vitals started slipping further… if she was dying? What would he do if it came to that? His code of morals prevented him from turning anyone without their permission and he had no idea how she felt about the topic or if she’d ever discussed it with Shane. If he came home to find her gone… he’d be devastated. As far as Mick knew Shane didn’t have the same attitudes as the ones he himself grappled with, the older vamp was comfortable with what he was. Would he want Mick to turn Sara if it came to that? And then, if he did turn her, and they found out Shane was dead… it would be devastating for her. Wake up to find out you were immortal but the man you loved was gone forever?

Mick realized the decision was so much harder now that he’d accepted himself and what he was. Before it would have been no, never, not even with consent. ‘Letting’ people die was doing them a favor he could feel good about it; like he’d done the right thing. It was much more complicated now. Much easier to live in a black and white world; this one he inhabited now with its hues and colors and shades of gray required a whole new level of responsibility he didn’t want to have over others’ lives. Was this what it would be like from now on, watching humans die and having to battle himself every time?

Mick tightened his hold on Sara, pulling her closer against him. “Hang on sweetheart. For Shane. Hang on for Shane.”

 

XXX

 

The mood in the waiting room was tense. Ethan sat on one of the ugly, uncomfortable chairs with his head in his hands, Pat beside him trying to offer encouragement.

“What the hell happened?!” Ethan demanded with the confusion of a worried father.

“We don’t really know yet,” Mick explained. His excuse to everyone, in lieu of telling them he’d found her in a vampire’s freezer room, was that she’d been outside, unconscious. “Maybe she fell, hit her head or something.”

“She’s tough, she’ll be okay,” Greg assured Ethan.

“He’s right,” Mick agreed. “It wouldn’t have been good if I hadn’t found her when I did, but we got to her here in plenty of time. Once her core temp comes back up she’ll be fine.”

Ethan looked up to give Mick a “who the hell are you” gaze.

“I was a…” _Medic during the battle of the bulge_. “I have some paramedic training,” he settled for. When everyone went back to their silent waiting, Mick excused himself. “I just have to uh, use the john…” he told them, and headed off down the hallway.

Once out of sight, Mick detoured instead to the room Sara was in. He already knew she was going to be fine, and the doctor was on his way to tell the family now. Before that happened, he needed to compare notes with her on their alibi, and ask her a few questions of his own…

 

XXX

 

“Do you have my IPOD and my cell phone?” was the first thing Sara said to Mick when he appeared at her bedside.

“You are pretty tough, aren’t you?” he said with a relieved grin as he pulled the items out of his coat pocket and handed them to her.

“I feel so stupid,” she admitted, clutching her IPOD tightly as she checked her phone for messages.

“What happened, Sara?” Mick asked. “I found you in the bed; the a/c was too low for a human.”

“You don’t think I—" she began incredulously. “I didn’t do it on purpose! I’ve been feeling cold ever since… I just was listening to music and then I fell asleep. I didn’t realize the a/c was on.”

“Okay,” Mick conceded. “Have you told the doctors anything about how it happened?”

“Oh yeah, I told them I fell asleep in my vampire lover’s freezer and forgot to turn up the temp,” she snapped crossly.

“We need to get our stories straight,” Mick told her with deliberate patience. “It’s cold enough here even though it’s late spring, prolonged exposure could cause hypothermia. I told them I found you outside the house, unconscious. Maybe you fainted. Lack of food? Low blood sugar?”

“Got it. I was walking outside the house, felt dizzy, then bam – next thing I know I’m waking up here. Haven’t eaten all day.”

“A talented liar is a good trait for a vamp to have in a girlfriend,” Mick teasingly complimented. Then he sobered. “By the way, I guess all the vampires in your life should probably know now, if anything should ever happen, anything life threatening, and Shane isn’t there…”

“You’d best turn me if that ever happens, because if you don’t Shane will kill you.” And it was said in a matter-of-fact, definite tone that would have given him a chill if he was able to feel such things.

 

XXX

 

When his cell rang Mick excused himself and went into the hallway for privacy.

“If you don’t tell me what’s going on there right now, I’m going to reach through this phone and rip out your undead heart,” was Josef’s growl when Mick finally answered his cell.

Mick slumped against the wall. “Everything’s okay.”

“And you couldn’t answer your phone to tell me this before, because?” the words were spoken calmly enough, but the words were dangerous, even to a friend.

“I’m sorry, but I was busy saving Sara’s life.”

There was momentary silence over the line. “She’s okay?” And he’d ever heard Josef’s voice sound so naked.

Mick rubbed hand over eyes. “Yeah, she’s already arguing with the doctors to let her go. She had a little…accident with that freezer room Shane’s got. “

“Ah, fuck.”

“Yeah,” Mick agreed, thinking again of the rough night he’d had. Why was it every time he came to Alaska he was faced with turning issues?

“We’re just leaving the airport for Resurrection now. No word on Shane yet?” Josef continued.

The scream was ear splitting, and Mick actually dropped the phone. Everyone ran toward the sound just as Sara came running out of the room in a hospital gown and huge smile. “Shane’s coming home!”

 

**End of Part 4: Searching**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs are from Shane's playlist, that also appears in my story, "Songs of Life." In order of appearance:
> 
> Sister Sarah, Rebbe Soul  
> Oh Sarah, Alien  
> Sarah, Chris Norman  
> Obsession, Chris Norman  
> Under Your Spell, Chris Norman  
> Right Time, Wrong Place, Chris Norma  
> Sarah, One Flew South  
> I'll Be There, Chris Norman


	5. Answers

Mick peeked through the blinds from his vantage point inside the Sheriff’s department. It seemed like everyone in town was milling about on the street near the office, waiting for their favorite lawman to return. His disappearance had worried them all, so when word had gotten out that he was arriving shortly, apparently they’d decided to take up a vigil. Shane hadn’t given any details, just said that he’d had some trouble with a couple of guys but he’d turned the tables on them and was on his way back.

Sara, who now had her ear glued to the cell phone instead of the IPOD, turned to the others. “He just pulled into town,” she announced.

Those inside filed out into the cool Alaskan air to wait with the rest. Greg scanned the crowd, perhaps thinking he needed to do crowd control so that there wasn’t any riot.

A few minutes later the van pulled up to the curb and Shane got out, glancing around with a slightly bemused expression as the crowd cheered his arrival. Then he had an armful of Sara, and he was picking her up and they were kissing enthusiastically, uncaring of the audience, some of whom had now started whistles and cat calls.

“Welcome back,” Greg greeted with a huge smile when the couple had broken for air.

“Sorry it took so long. There’s a couple of idiots tied up in the back of the van,” he told Greg. “Throw ‘em in lock up. And uh, I think they’re doing drugs so just ignore anything weird they might say. We’ll give ‘em a chance to come down before we interrogate them.”

“You got it.” Greg slapped him on back and started for van, stopping when a sedan pulled up in front of it.

Josef and another man got out. Josef's tense face visibly relaxed when he saw Shane.

Then he saw Mick and his look abruptly turned murderous. “I should kill you!” Josef lunged for Mick, who took a step back with hands up in a placating gesture.

Shane reached out a long arm and grabbed Josef with one hand, Sara still wrapped in the other arm. “Whoa! What’s going on here?”

“I’m sorry!” Mick said hastily. “I already told you, uh, why I couldn’t call you right back,” he censored his words as Shane didn’t know what had happened to Sara yet and he didn’t want him finding out in quite that way.

Josef glanced at Sara and the fight seemed to go out of him to be replaced with guilt. “No,” he said. “I’m the one who’s sorry,” he told Sara imploringly. “I should have been here.”

“You weren’t here because you let me use your plane,” Mick reasoned, trying to appease the mood that had now turned self castigating.

“It’s okay,” Sara put in. “Everything is okay.”

“If Shane’s not there I’m supposed to look after her,” Josef insisted as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Huh?” Shane said, as they all looked on in confusion.

“Instead I was off fucking some fly boy!” Josef yelled.

There was a combination of awkward and speechless silence among those assembled on the sidewalk following his outburst. Shane glanced at the stranger that had arrived with Josef, who was shifting on his feet in a nervous gesture and shooting the Sheriff uneasy looks.

Finally Shane broke the silence. He smacked his own head with a hand in exasperation. “He’s losin’ it again,” he muttered. “Get a fucking grip! Or I’m gonna start calling you Mick St. John.”

“Hey, I resemble that remark!” Mick added jokingly, uncomfortable with his friend’s very uncharacteristic outbursts and willing to help provide a lighthearted diversion, even at his own expense.

“It’s not so bad,” Shane told Mick, obviously on the same page and purposely keeping the banter light. “We’re writing a song for you and your guilt. The MSJ Shuffle.”

Josef turned in a circle, looking at everyone and seemingly not knowing what to do or say next. His eyes landed on Shane and Sara and lingered there. “I…need to take a walk,” he announced suddenly.

Shane grabbed his arm when he started past.

“I’ll be okay,” Josef assured. “I just need some time alone.”

“And then you’re gonna tell me what the hell’s going on? The truth this time?”

Josef nodded. “I promise. I’ll tell you about it soon. Not _now_ ,” he said with a meaningful glance at Sara. Then he started walking down the road heading out of town, and into the Alaskan wilderness.

 

XXX

 

The others milled about in his wake for a confused moment. Unexpectedly, the newcomer was the first to speak up. “Well, I’ll just, uh, maybe there’s a diner around here somewhere?” he said, gaze darting around the street. “I could go get something to eat.”

“I take it you’re the fly boy,” Shane said, looking him up and down, his expression showing a bit of amusement when the man took a nervous step away. He was obviously making the guy very uncomfortable.

“I’m gonna go see if I can find one,” Eric decided hastily. “I’m sure there’s a diner around here…”

“Around the corner, on forth,” Greg took pity on him by telling him, pointing the way.

With another nervous glance at Shane, Eric hurried down the street.

“What the fuck?!” Shane exclaimed. “I’m gone a few days and I come back and all hell’s breaking loose?!”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Mick confirmed.

“Well, I’m glad I didn’t miss all the fun while I was gone,” was his comeback.

“I’ll get the prisoners,” Greg spoke up, trying to get the subject back to business at hand and heading for the van once again.

Shane nodded. “Give me about an hour.” He looked at Mick, including him. “We can have a chat with them, then.”

 

XXX

 

Shane and Sara retreated to his office. They sat together on the couch, content not to talk much, but just soak up each other’s presence. She was wrapped in his Sheriff’s department issue jacket and his arms.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he told her, not for the first time.

“I’ve had better days,” she admitted. “But I knew you’d be back okay.”

“You knew?” he asked curiously.

“I have faith in you.”

 _What the fuck do I say to that?_   he thought, moved beyond words. He settled on kissing her. As a distraction, it was always a popular choice.

When his own words finally came, Shane found he didn’t want to keep them to himself no matter how sappy they might sound. “In almost a thousand years I’ve never come across a woman I felt was worthy to stand at my side through the centuries. Until now. If I was the vampire King, you’d be my Queen,” he added, turning it into a joke.

“Is there such a thing?” Sara asked, eyes wide, smiling.

Shane laughed. “No.”

“Well, darn. I look really good in a tiara.”

They both laughed.

“Maybe not a queen,” Shane decided, “maybe Freya, the Norse Goddess of love. When I was dying, before I was turned, I wondered if the God Odin would call me to him in Valhalla. I forgot, half of all Vikings go to Freya in Folkvang.”

 _What the fuck am I suppose to say to that?_   Sara thought, now speechless herself. “No pressure there,” she finally managed.

“I wouldn’t worry. All you have to do is be yourself.”

Apparently they were having a contest to see who could one up the other with mushy, embarrassing sentiments that caused speechlessness. Sara added them up in her head, realizing that Shane was definitely ahead, three to one by her calculations. She decided to bring out the big guns.

“By the way, I love your playlist.” She’d already listened to it enough that it was committed to memory.

“My—“

“The one in the CD wallet, without any writing on it,” she further explained, enjoying his discomfort.

“Uh yeah, I uh…”

“It’s amazing,” she said in a voice gone soft.

“I made it while you were off at college,” Shane admitted, deciding to go for brutal honesty.

The reaction he got, however, wasn’t one he’d meant to cause. “Fuck!” Her hand went to her mouth, tears springing to her eyes as realization dawned. “No…” she whispered.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he assured, making light of it. “It’s in the past, doesn’t matter now.”

Undeterred, Sara rose to her knees on the cushion beside him, arms going around his neck. “I never would have left if I’d known,” she insisted. “I wouldn’t hurt you like that.”

“Ah, God, baby…” he murmured, his hands tangling in her hair as his lips took hers. There was nothing to do now but kiss, no words left to say. “Oh Sara…”

She loved the way he said her name, as if it was the most important word in his world. “I love you,” she whispered in between their kisses.

Shane gradually became aware of something else trying to make itself known through the haze of love and desire between them. It filtered into his consciousness, glaringly out of place and unpleasant. When it finally registered, it was like a bucket of ice water on his ardor. He pulled back from the embrace to look at her.

Why was the smell of Hospital clinging to Sara?

Alarmed, but making sure not to show it, he did a clandestine scan of her vitals. To his relief, everything seemed normal.

“What?” she said, wondering why he’d stopped.

Shane didn’t want to bring up any topics that might upset her further tonight, so he decided that conversation could wait. He did intend, however, to find out what happened. Immediately.

Shane sighed, resting his forehead against hers. “I got some work to do,” he explained apologetically.

“It’s okay,” Sara assured him. “I’ll wait here.”

“I’ll be as quick as I can. Why don’t you lie down and get some rest? I bet you haven’t gotten much sleep in the last few days.”

“On one condition,” she said.

“What?” he asked quizzically.

“Tell me the reason I need to get some rest is because I’m gonna _need_ it later,” she answered suggestively.

He grinned. “Count on it, babe.”

 

XXX

 

When Shane came out of his office and immediately grabbed Mick to pull him aside, the PI had a feeling he knew why.

“What happened to Sara?” Shane asked without preamble.

Mick sighed. It wasn’t news he wanted to be the one to break, but decided the best way was short and to the point. That seemed to be the way Shane would prefer it. He’d probably feel the same, if it was him, asking about Beth. “I found her in your room at the house,” he began as gently as he could, knowing the reaction wasn’t going to be good. “She’d accidentally fallen asleep and didn’t realize the freezer unit was on. She had a touch of hypothermia, but she’s fine now,” he stressed to Shane’s troubled expression.

Shane said nothing for a long moment, just looked at Mick. It was starting to unnerve him, when the older vamp finally spoke. “I owe you. If you ever need anything, you got it.”

Mick nodded in silent understanding.

Then Shane went outside to the back of the building and punched the wall as hard as he could, knowing as the pain blossomed in his broken hand that he’d be doing the same to the access panel at home later. He’d never use it again.

 

XXX

 

“We gotta talk,” Shane said, perching on the corner of Greg’s desk later. They were the only ones in the room, Sara was sleeping in his office and Mick had gone to get some liquid dinner.

“Yeah, I figure we’re overdue for one of those,” Greg responded, leaning back in his chair to regard his boss and friend.

“I’m resigning from my post as Sheriff,” he began. “I have a feeling that won’t be a total surprise to you, you know how I feel about the music and now I have a chance to go back to the life I love most. It’s almost time for me to be moving on, anyway.”

“The town’s going to miss you,” Greg said, nodding toward the window. “We all will,” he added.

“But they’ll have you,” Shane told him. “You’ll make a hell of a Sheriff. There are some important things you need to know first though. Things about some of the residents you’ll be dealing with. Things about me.”

Greg nodded. “Can’t say that’s a surprise. Lots of…odd things that maybe when taken on their own are meaningless, but when you add them up…”

Shane smiled slightly. “Yeah, I figured as much. I’m gonna come right out and say it, ‘cause I’m not one to beat around the bush.”

“I appreciate that.”

“I’m a vampire.”

Greg’s expression said that the revelation had stunned him. He opened his mouth once as if to say something, and then closed it. Finally he said, “Okay, obviously you don’t mean the Dracula kind.”

“I think it’s safe to say a lot of the stuff you’ve heard is BS. We’re not monsters or soulless killers. Call us… a different species, if you will. We do subsist on blood though, and we don’t age.”

“You’re a thousand?!” Greg blurted in amazement.

“How the hell do you know that?!” Shane countered in consternation.

“Remember that night awhile back, when I found you down at the Last Resort drunk as a skunk? You told me you were a thousand going on eighteen. I thought it was an odd expression at the time, so it stuck in my head.”

Shane had to shake his head, impressed despite himself. “I always knew you were sharp. Listen, my age is kind of a touchy subject with me. I don’t even share it with others of my kind.”

Greg nodded, acknowledging the secret. “Like Mick and Josef?” he said, putting more pieces together.

”You realize this is highly sensitive information we give out on a need-to-know basis. There’s no going back, once you know.”

“I understand. I think,” Greg added. “Actually, I’m not sure. This is…”

“A lot to digest, I know.”

“If it was anybody else I’d think they were crazy. But I’ve known you too long for that.”

“There’s a lot to talk about, but I’ll give you a chance to get used to the idea first. I just wanted you to know that you won’t have to deal with our special residents on your own, there are a couple of people in town who can give you a hand.” Shane was thinking that the new area blood supplier, Guillermo, was a good choice for part time deputy. He might be reluctant, but Shane was confident that Josef would make him yet another offer he couldn’t refuse. “Plus they know if they give you any trouble they’ll have to answer to me.”

“Are they generally that much trouble?” Greg inquired, probably starting to wonder what he was getting himself into.

“No, not at all. But as a human – you’re automatically outmatched. Don’t worry,” he added to Greg’s furrowed brows. “It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

“I think I need a stiff drink and about eight hours sleep,” Greg decided.

“Take off,” Shane told him. “I’ll finish up here.” As Shane got up from the desk, Greg stopped him with another question.

“Does Sara know?”

“I hope you know me well enough to know the answer to that.”

“I do. Just had to ask anyway.”

Shane nodded in acknowledgement and then headed out front to meet Mick, who’d just arrived with ‘dinner.’ It was always best to tackle an interrogation of humans well fed.

 

XXX

 

Shane and Mick joined the prisoners in the interrogation room ten minutes later.

“Okay gentleman, let’s have a chat, shall we?” Shane said, closing the door behind them.

The two men looked nervous and no doubt rather surprised to find themselves in a jail and not a vamp meal – although the more anxious of the two, a man named Tate, did have a bandage on his wrist.

Tate shrank back from them when they took seats across the table, a fact which didn’t escape Shane’s notice.

“No thanks,” he said with a smirk. “I’m full. But thanks for offering.”

“What are we doing here?!” the one named Phil demanded.

“You look like a man who thinks he’s intelligent, I’m sure you can figure it out. I want to know who sent you and why you thought it was smart to try and kidnap a vampire.”

Phil’s eyes widened, and Shane correctly interpreted his surprised that the V word had been used so openly.

“Oh, by the way, this is a small town,” the Sheriff explained. We don’t have any fancy gizmos, oh like camera or recording devices for our interrogations. We do it the old fashioned way here.”

“In other words,” Mick smiled, showing fangs, “nobody’s watching us.” The threat was clear, even if it was delivered in a friendly voice.

“John Whitley hired us!” Tate blurted.

“Shut up, you asshole!” Phil barked at him.

Tate immediately fell silent, for the moment more intimidated by his partner than the vampires. That of course was easily rectified.

Shane got up and moved to the other side of the table, putting an arm around Tate’s shoulder, leaning in close. The human tried to move away, but he was held in place. “Oh, come on now,” Shane said about his obvious desire to put space between them. “It wasn’t that bad. In fact you _liked_  it, didn’t you? That’s the problem.  How the hell does John Whitley know me?” he asked, his mouth close to Tate’s ear.

That was when the flood gates opened. “He hired Phil to go to the funeral. Whitley heard his granddaughter had died; he wanted to make contact with his only family again before he dies too. Phil took pictures, and Whitley flipped out when he saw Charles Fitzgerald in them. When he couldn’t find the guy anywhere, he told us to bring you to him, hoping you’d tell us where Fitzgerald is.”

“What does he want with Fitzgerald?”

“Revenge,” Mick guessed.

Phil spoke up then, apparently figuring he might as well since the story was coming out. “He said Charles Fitzgerald is a monster who killed his daughter.”

Shane’s hand was a blur as it shot out, closing around Phil’s throat. “Charles Fitzgerald is not a monster, you got that?” he growled. “Human’s like you are the evil ones.”

Mick put a tentative hand on Shane’s shoulder, not knowing how the interference would be received. To his relief, Shane subsided, letting go of the man and sitting back down.

“I’d watch how I talked about his brother and my best friend if I were you,” Mick warned. “Next time I won’t try to stop him, I’ll help him.”

“Okay, let’s make a deal,” Phil said hoarsely, rubbing his neck. “You let us go and we’ll keep your secret.”

“Oh yeah, well, I’ll have to think about it,” Shane lied. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you my answer in the morning.”

Without another word, he got up and left, Mick following him out.

 

XXX

 

“What are you going to do?” Mick asked when they’d left the interrogation room.

“Jay-Jay and I are gonna pay John Whitley a little visit.”

“No, I mean about them,” Mick hooked a thumb towards the room they’d just left.

“Call the cleaners.”

In the morning, two women dressed all in black would arrive at the Sherriff’s department to collect the prisoners. It would seem they were wanted on federal charges. No record of Phil or Tate ever having been in Resurrection existed, and they would never be heard from again.

 

**End part 5**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Norse mythology, Freya (also spelled Freyja) is a goddess of love, sex, and pleasure, and the most beautiful of the goddesses. Patron of young lovers. She's viewed as a force for good in the world, protector of the weak, healer, source of love and peace. She listens to the prayers of men and women seeking love and helps him when she can. She loves music, spring and flowers, and is particularly fond of the fairies. She's also the Goddess of battle. Freya and Odin divided the heroic dead amongst themselves. Half went to live eternally in Odin's hall, and half in Freyja's hall Sessrumnir- and the goddess got first pick.


	6. Saving Shane

  
_Please take the demon from my head_  
 _Won’t you please erase the memories of the ghosts who haunt my bed_  
 _Then you’ll learn to understand_  
 _I’m gonna be the only man to ever touch your soul_  
 _I ain’t never letting go…_  
\--Bret Michaels, Devil Inside

 

 

Solitude. True solitude, the kind only offered by the Alaskan wilderness. No one around for miles, only the sound of his own footfalls for company. That and his private thoughts. It was a place where mortal man would not venture alone, at this time of night, on foot. It was perfection.

Josef’s instincts told him to walk. So he did, throughout the night, with a purposeful step. The automatic process of putting one foot in front of the other became a type of meditation, allowed his mind to work on the issues at hand undistracted. He’d needed time to cool down and think, and he knew Sara needed private time with Shane. So he walked.

He thought long and hard and honest. Forced himself to be more brutally honest than he’d ever been with himself in four hundred years. Who else do you have to answer to, if not yourself? In the end, he had his answers. He understood where he’d made his mistakes; by not being truthful, hiding and keeping secrets. There was a price to pay for that, but there was nothing he could do to change the past. He could only make a choice now, for the present.

He finally returned to town just before dawn.

 

XXX

 

When Shane arrived at his office early the next morning, Josef was waiting for him. It wasn’t yet light and the building was deserted save for them. Shane knew the moment he’d stepped out of his truck that the other vampire was there of course, possibly even sooner.

“Leave it off,” Josef said as Shane reached for the light switch. Just that much and the anticipation was there, hovering in the air expectantly. Forget the lights, they had their own electricity.

The hand dropped. “Did you have a nice walk?” he inquired.

“The wind whispered the secrets of the universe to me,” Josef said as he reached over and locked the door. He wasn’t interested in getting a thrill out of possible exposure this time, not like when he’d paraded a mostly naked Shane through his house in L.A. that night, knowing anyone could have come upon them as they walked from study to bedroom. He’d already revealed quite enough this visit.

“Fly boy, huh?” Shane inquired with an arched brow, almost as if reading his mind.

Josef pounced. “You’re jealous!” he accused, quietly pleased.

“Did you get a hold of some of Randy’s shine?” Shane scoffed, turning away to remove his jacket.

“Eric told me,” Josef said, looking for a reaction that would be so minuscule that no one else in the world would notice. Only when he had it did he add, “When I _called_   him before. He said the big scary vampire was giving him the evil eye.”

“He seems like the nervous type to me.” Shane hung his jacket on the hook by the door and moved away from Josef, toward the desk.

“You are,” Josef continued, following him. “You know how I can tell? You aren’t arguing with me. You’re not really denying it, you’re getting quiet. That’s what you do when you don’t want to admit the truth.”

“Know me that well, huh?” Shane challenged, leaning against the desk, arms folded in front of him in casual challenge.

Instead of sparring with him, Josef stepped closer until there was almost no space between them. He reached out, laying just one finger on the folded arms. They dropped in surrender and Josef moved even closer, sliding his hands around into Shane’s back pockets, enjoying the feel of their bodies pressed together.

“Why do you do these things to annoy me?” Shane complained.

“You don’t feel annoyed to me,” Josef teased, beginning to nibble at an earlobe. He was so attuned to the other vamp that he heard it when his eyes slid closed.

“You’re gonna be the death of me yet,” came the half hearted complaint.

“No, never,” Josef denied, shaking his head.

Shane’s arms went around him, encouraging more contact.

Josef took his hands out of the pockets and starting unbuttoning the denim shirt unhurriedly, taking his time even by human standards. “While I was taking my walk I had an epiphany.”

Shane started to snort a laugh, but it turned into a moan as a tongue swirled around his nipple. “Shit…” he breathed instead.

“I love how quick I can turn you on,” Josef admitted, rubbing a hand over the prominent bulge in Shane’s pants. “It’s not a game,” he assured,  wanting to be clear. Life was a game he played without even thinking about it, but with this man he didn’t want to anymore. It would probably be a challenge, but he did enjoy those.

Josef smiled at the hiss he caused when he unzipped Shane’s jeans, wrapping a hand around the erection waiting for him. He stroked, using just a little pressure, just enough to be maddening. Maybe it wasn’t exactly life pulsing in his hand, but it was energy, an energy that was tangible, powerful, and created between them whenever they came together like this. It was impossible to resist. This habit they had of spontaneously combusting the moment they touched.

“I want to be honest with you,” Josef continued, still stroking with one hand as he deftly undid his own belt and zipper. He saw Shane watching his hands, clearly thinking about what else those flexible hands could do. “I know what I have to do now.”

“As long as it ends with both of us coming,” Shane said as he covered Josef’s hand with his own, guiding him to a firmer pressure. His free hand fumbled to get Josef’s shirt off.

“Are you going to rip this one?”

“Do you want me to?” Shane countered.

“Fielder’s choice,” Josef said, ignoring the cry of protest when he released the cock in order to have both hands free so they could undress each other.

“Oh, am I the fielder?” Shane asked.

“Not this time, baby.”

They tackled the clothing together in between kisses. One shirt was dropped on the desk, the other following suit. Shoes, pants and underwear were left where they fell.

“We work pretty good together, when we’re motivated,” Josef observed after they’d divested each other of the clothing. He grabbed a handful of ass, pulling their lower bodies together as the saliva coated fingers of one hand delved between possessively. He set up a rhythm with fingers and body undulating.

“Show me how motivated you are.”

“I could take the Sherriff bent over his own desk in his office,” Josef said in a conversational tone. “I think I like that idea.”

“You better have lube.”

Josef reached down to pull a tube from his pants pocket.

“Never leave home without it, huh?” Shane said, but there was an almost imperceptible edge underneath the joking. As if perhaps he was wondering where else that lube had been.

“It’s brand new,” Josef said, showing him the tamper proof tape around the top, thrilled that Shane was again showing signs of jealousy. “I stole it from a convenience store on my way back into town.” He smothered Shane’s laugh of disbelief in a kiss.

“You’re telling me that the man who could buy the whole store shoplifted a tube of lube?” Shane asked when his mouth was temporarily free. “Why?”

_To make you laugh._ Josef shrugged. “Because I could.”

Despite Josef’s threat, they ended up on the big old battered couch. “I’m going to need to search you for concealed weapons now, so spread ‘em,” Josef told him.

“My weapon’s not concealed,” Shane drawled, fisting it. He hooked one leg over the back of the couch and the other around Josef, opening his body.

Josef left Shane watch him stroke himself while lubing up, feeling his hand and Shane’s eyes in equal measure. When his own touch became too much, he moved closer and guided himself into the waiting body. It was slow and generous, a meeting of bodies and souls.

“Take me there,” Shane moaned, urging him closer.

Josef thrust deeper, nailing his prostate, marveling at his ability to unravel this man with a part of himself.

"Oh god, don’t stop….”

Not to worry, he thought, but couldn’t form coherent words to speak. He couldn’t have stopped now if the entire town of Resurrection came walking in. And okay, that was a hot thought, despite it not being about showing off. Josef fucked Shane deeper, harder, watching Shane working his own erection in sync. The fire dept. could have been breaking down the door because the place was burning down – and considering the heat they generated that was a possibility – and nothing was going to stop the inevitable conclusion now.

Then he lost the ability of thought. All he could do was lean over and sink his fangs in Shane’s shoulder as his orgasm washed over him. He barely even noticed Shane grabbing his arm and biting down as he too found release.

 

XXX

 

“Last time I was here, I was freaked out because I had a vision. I saw your death,” Josef said a little while later, when they’d recovered enough to talk. He was kneeling on the floor, his head on Shane’s chest. “Needless to say I didn’t take it well when I heard you were missing, even though in the vision it happened years in the future.”

“Oh Jay-Jay,” Shane murmured, running fingers through his short hair. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was afraid you’d make light of it,” Josef admitted. “Give me some Que Sera Sera shit like you usually do.” He raised his head, pinning the other vamp with a piercing look. “It wasn’t a dream, you know we don’t dream.” His voice became low, intense, the kind of tone that made mortal men fear for their lives. “That is _not_   acceptable, do you hear me? I’m going to tell you about it, and we’re going to make sure it doesn’t happen. Together.”

Shane nodded once.

“You’d be a bastard if you shrugged this off and didn’t care about our feelings or that you were leaving us behind,” Josef continued, including Sara in his case for good measure.

“I think you underestimate my desire to stick around,” Shane said after a thoughtful pause. “Recent events…” he trailed off, and then tried again. “I know. I have to be around for the people who care.”

“You’ve always had someone who cares,” Josef told him quietly.

“Yeah, well, it took me awhile to figure it out.”

“Four hundred _years_?!” he said, mildly mocking.

“So I’m a bit dense and you’re good at hiding.”

Josef shifted until he was sitting on the floor, leaning back against Shane. He wrapped his arms around his knees. “I’m afraid to wake Sarah up because I don’t want it to come between us when we’re just starting to…figure things out,” he confessed.

“Wow.” Shane was clearly stunned at the level of open honesty. He silently processed the confession, fingers playing absently with the spiked ends of Josef’s hair disheveled in their debauchery. “That’ll only happen if we let it,” he finally said. It wasn’t necessarily a reassuring thought, based on past behavior patterns.

“I’m committed to not letting it happen. “ Josef grabbed the hand that now rested on the edge of the couch and twined their fingers together.

“Maybe she deserves a chance at undead life, no matter how it turns out. I know it won’t be easy for either of you, but don’t you owe her that?”

“Yes,” Josef said simply.

“Whatever happens, I’ll be here, you know that.”

Josef rested his head against their joined hands. “Promise me we’ll never change.”

“We’re too contrary to change,” Shane promised with a grin.

 

XXX

 

“Just curious – do I _ever_   get to die?” Shane asked later, with humor.

“Nope.”

“Not even when mortals finally succeed in destroying the earth and it explodes into a giant fireball?”

“No.” And his tone was serious. “I’m thinking either a time machine back to the past, or living on another planet by then. Whichever proves more feasible.”

Shane shot a look to the heavens. “Give me strength.”

“With me and Sara Adams to contend with, I dare say you’ll need it.”

Shane couldn’t agree more.

“If we go, we go together,” Josef whispered.

It was an uncomfortable thought, but Shane knew it was time to accept his responsibilities. All of them. “Together,” he echoed, clasping Josef’s hand tighter.

 

  
_There’s a place where you go_   
_I never been, I never know_   
_The pain you keep inside, the secrets that you hide_   
_But I try to understand your pain_   
_Be your shelter from the falling rain_   
_Just maybe I feel what you’re going through_   
_Maybe I have been there, too…_   


 

**end part 6**

 


	7. Epilogue

The following night, everyone gathered at The Last Resort for some down time. The lights were low, the booze was flowing; Shane was sitting on the stage doing an impromptu one man show, guitar in hand and Sara next to him. Mick and Josef sat at the table closest to the stage. It was time to celebrate their relief for a good outcome to a tense few days.

Shane began to sing, his earthy, emotive voice weaving the words to a powerful song that resonated as apropos for a vampire somehow. Mick glanced at Josef. One finger tapped the table top along to the beat, his head nodding slightly as well. He had that little snarky/ironic smile on his face as if he found something in the words amusing, but the look in his eyes – that was another thing entirely. It was a look Mick had never seen on Josef before. The feelings it revealed were surprising, and almost tangible.

To Mick’s further astonishment, Josef’s voice joined in on the chorus, blending with Shane’s amazingly well.

“Please take the demon from my head, won’t you please erase the memories of the ghosts who haunt my bed…”

Shane’s eyes showed a moment of surprise at the accompaniment, then pleasure as they met Josef’s.

“I just want you to understand, I’m gonna be the only man to ever touch your soul. I ain’t never letting go….”

Like dominos falling or a circuit tripping, Mick suddenly saw everything with new eyes. What he saw took his breath away.

As he watched them sing together, Mick swore he could almost see four hundred years of history there in the space between them. A history he couldn’t even guess at, in a number of centuries that he knew he couldn’t yet imagine at his young age. Is that what Coraline had wanted for them, even as she destroyed the possibility? Was it how he and Beth were going to look at each other four centuries from now? It was weird watching this, knowing he was the only one seeing it; everyone else just saw a singer with his girlfriend at his side, his brother singing along. Mick glanced at Sara, wondering how such a strange and complicated situation worked itself out. Would he find out first hand someday, or would he and Beth be lucky enough to be enough for each other forever? Somehow, it had never seemed like such a long time before.

Mick watched, mesmerized by the scene. If Josef knew what his face was revealing, he’d never allow it. Seeing his best friend in this whole new light was illuminating, it gave him insights into the complexity of the man he thought he’d known. Mick wanted to reach out, to touch his shoulder. Let him know about the profound happiness that had welled up inside at the knowledge that his closest friend had someone who made him look like that. It wasn’t something he could do though, not now. It would mortify the reserved vamp. Maybe someday.

It was one moment, just a fleeting second when Mick felt thirty again and saw a twenty four year old young man in front of him, frozen in time. Vampires mature but maybe there’s that core somewhere deep inside that remains forever their mortal age. In that instant, he met Jay-Jay.

_We’re sad, and beautiful creatures too. We just try to do the best we can to make sense of it all. Beth is right: we live and laugh, love and hurt. We have souls, too. I know that know. I saw it with my own eyes. In Josef’s._

 

XXX

 

The moment was over; Shane had gone into a more upbeat song and Josef turned his attention back to his drink. It was like the universe snapped back into Real Time again. Mick regarded him thoughtfully.

“You really do have a good voice,” Mick told Josef.

“Thank you. Of course I can’t think of anything I’m _not_ good at,” Josef said, and managed to make it sound humble somehow.

Mick glanced at Shane again, then back to Josef. “I wouldn’t have taken you for each other’s type,” he admitted. Physically, and personality-wise, they seemed very different creatures. Yet somehow, they fit.

Josef’s eyes found Shane again. “He’s my sire.”

That said it all, and yet Mick sensed there was more, much more. His thoughts returned to his own sire. “You’re lucky,” he told Josef.

“Yeah, I am.”

“This is a side of you I’ve never seen before,” Mick ventured since Josef seemed to be in a rare open mood.

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain,” Josef quipped, quoting the Wizard of Oz. The words were remarkably reminiscent of the thoughts Mick had been having. So much said there; questions asked and answered.

Mick raised his glass in toast, eyes sparkling in amusement. “To the great and powerful Konstantin.”

“Well, that part’s true.”

Shane came over to stand behind Josef’s chair, resting hands on his shoulders. Josef leaned his head back into the vamp’s chest to look up at him, and Mick had two simultaneous thoughts: it was a cute sight and he’d better not ever voice that opinion aloud.

“He’s got delusions of grandeur,” Mick told Shane instead.

“Yep,” Shane responded mildly. He gave the shoulders under his hands a squeeze. “You ready to go, Emperor?” The three of them, Josef, Shane, and Sara, were heading off on a road trip, Shane having announced that they needed to get the heck out of Dodge for awhile.

Josef downed the last of his drink, and rose with his trademark cheeky grin. “Well, off to Oz.”

“Somewhere over the rainbow,” Shane agreed, and Mick had the feeling he’d heard every word of their conversation.

_And maybe, the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true._

 

The end  
1/24/09

**Author's Note:**

> I actually took this particular "pilot's prayer" from the pilot episode of Riptide.


End file.
